Our interview with Microsoft Behavioral Scientist Matt Wallaert to set the record straight on the Bing versus Google controversy

Yale law professor, Ian Ayres, conducted a study with a collection of 1,000 people who were asked to take the “Bing It On” challenge and report their results. The outcome of Ayres’ experiment was nowhere near Microsoft’s claim that people prefer Bing 2 to 1 causing a media storm of accusations and negative press.

We spoke with Bing Behavioral Scientist, Matt Wallaert, to help clear up the situation.

Nokia has only just announced the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone, as well as new imaging API for developers to take advantage of to create unique and feature rich experiences. If you're a resident developer and would like to get your hardcoding hands on the new flagship smartphone, this article is for you. Nokia is going to be handing out prizes, including the Lumia 1020, to developers who get creative with the camera.

With the latest in mobile photography, the company really is pushing the boundaries and wants software to follow suit.

We may be wrapping up Fitness Month, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to stop using technology to stay fit. Here’s a fun little contest you guys can enter and represent the Windows Phone community at the same time. If you use Endomondo to track your runs and workouts, there is currently a challenge being ran by gadget magazine T3.

Nokia has revealed the winners of its Lumia Geek 8-week Challenge, which was an array of challenges set up by Nokia and Windows Phone Geek - a developer resource. It was also an opportunity for developers to battle against one another, brushing out the cobwebs, improving their apps and ensuring that they had a solid chance on winning.

Ever wondered what children get up to with mobile phones with no parental supervision? Nokia decided to do a short film on how it is when taken to extreme levels. We're shown, who we can only assume is a 5 year old, mess around with a Lumia 920 by taking photos of his mother while asleep and setting it as the wallpaper on the lock screen.

Nokia has already released two new Windows Phones, the Lumia 820 and Lumia 920. To celebrate the new Windows Phone 8 hardware, the Finnish manufacturer has teamed up with Windows Phone Geek, a developer resource we've covered many times here on Windows Phone Central, to offer a unique opportunity for developers.

A new video has been published on YouTube that shows the Nokia Lumia team in Sweden challenging the general public to see if their competitor smartphone can best a Windows Phone at common tasks. We've previously seen similar campaigns in the UK with the "Dare to Live" tour and Ben Rudolph's Smoked by Windows Phone that started the challenges off at MWC 2012.

You know the drill already, whether it be uploading a photo to Facebook or locating the nearest restaurant for directions, the smartphone to complete said task is crowned the winner. As one can see from the video, the Nokia Lumia held its ground.

Last night during Nokia’s par-tay we managed to check out their little photo challenge area. In short, they literally had a cubby hole in a brick wall where you could mosey on up with your smartphone, snap a pic and then Nokia would do the same with the Lumia 920.

Of course the Lumia 920 is better positioned to win such a contest, after all it has everything: lens stabilization, a larger BSI sensor, F/2.0 aperture and some funky Nokia algorithms to top it all off. And indeed, challenge after challenge we saw the 920 crush any phone that attempted the feat—iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S3—all were smoked.

Nokia has taken the Lumia Challenge to Italy. The Windows Phone marketing campaign -- think Smoked by Windows Phone -- challenges participants to see if their competitor smartphone can beat a Lumia 900 at common tasks. Ranging anywhere from taking a photo and uploading to Facebook to locating a nearby restaurant, the challenges are generally won by Windows Phone thanks to the level of integration present.

Participants came wielding a variety of devices, including Samsung, HTC and the iPhone. Nokia has been extraordinarily successful in its Dare to Live campaign, which is touring the UK. We took a look at the results at the half-way marker and were able to reveal that Windows Phones were winning majority of challenges.

Here's hoping that success is seen in these marketing stunts across the world. At the very least, this is a strong attempt to rebuild the Nokia brand as a Windows Phone OEM.

Should the participant beat the Lumia they pocket a prize, but should they lose they have to publicly admit defeat. According to Nokia Switzerland, the Lumia 900 won 197 of 200 challenges. Locations included Zurich, Bern, Basel, Lucerne, Winterthur, St. Gallen, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Lausanne.

While everything may appear doom and gloom at Nokia HQ with all-time-low stock prices, upcoming Windows Phone 8 ("Apollo"), and difficult times ahead for platform penetration, the manufacturer can at least still gloat at the fact Lumia smartphones are more efficient than the competition.

We've been following the Windows Phone UK Dare to Live tour, which is challenging the public in a number of major city across the UK. Previously, we looked at how the campaign was progressing with the win / loss ratio, and it was revealed that Windows Phone certainly was the leading platform with a considerable lead.

Now the Dare to Live challenge has made its way to Brighton in the south of England. Should you find yourself in and around the area this week, be sure to pop down and check out the event. If you're reading this and use a competitor smartphone, why not try your luck and potentially pocket £20 by beating Windows Phone? Should you lose, well, you know what happens by now.

The Windows Phone UK team has been busy taking the Dare to Live challenge on tour throughout the UK. They first began the challenge marathon at Westfield in London and has since arrived in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Newcastle and Sheffield, challenging the public to see if their smartphone can beat a Windows Phone at common tasks. From uploading a photo to Facebook to publishing a status update to social networks.

The Smoked by Windows Phone challenge, the popular marketing campaign that was born back at CES 2012, has made its way to Toronto, Canada. The public are challenged by the Windows Phone team to see if their smartphone can beat Microsoft's mobile OS and pocket $100. As usual, these challenges include common tasks such as uploading a photo to Facebook.

Windows Phone has been steadily growing in reach when it comes to Canada. The 4G Radar and Lumia 900 are both available to take advantage of faster network speeds, and carriers are supporting the platform with stocking a number of devices. But we've yet to see a strong push by Nokia or Microsoft so it's good to see such marketing ongoing.

If you wish to check out the Windows Phone challenge, here are the event locations for the next few days:

The Nokia-like Smoked by Windows Phone campaign, Blown Away by Lumia, has gone to Bulgaria with public heading through popular shopping malls in Sofia being challenged to beat the Lumia 800. Already witnessed in other countries, including India which produced some interesting (yet humorous) results, the challenge is successful at pulling in the punters to show off Microsoft's platform powering Nokia products.

Popular Bulgarian artist Deo took to the helm and led the team through the challenges. These included uploading photos to Facebook, opening web pages and posting status updates to social networks - basic smartphone tasks. Should the participant beat the Lumia 800, they'd pocket 50 lev, but if they failed they'd have to publicly admit defeat.

Ready. Set. Code. The Nokia developer challenge, which we previously covered not-so-long-ago, will be kicking off this weekend. The 13-city hackathon will run through May and June, enabling developers (and teams) to come together to develop apps for Windows Phone.

Check out the video parody “Dev City Kid" below, which kicks the challenge off.

Whoever said developers and geeks weren't cool? Should you be attending the events and have registered your place, you might be interested to know there are some prizes available. At each event, prizes will be handed out for the top 3 apps created, top student app, as well as most Nokia-branded developer. Apps will be judged on creativity, usability, technical difficulty and presentation.

1st place: $500 gift card and Lumia 900

2nd place: $250 gift card and Lumia 900

3rd place: $100 gift card and Lumia 900

Student winner: $150 gift card and Lumia 900

Most Nokia-branded developer: $100 gift card and Lumia 900

We'll close up this article with some wise words from good man Joseph. Be sure to check out the Nokia Developer Eventbrite listing for details on the events.

Nokia and the Windows Phone team have taken the "Dare to Live" challenge to Edinburgh and Glasgow as the next step on their UK tour. Like what we witnessed in London with the challenge being held at the Shepherds Bush Westfield shopping centre, the public are challenged by the team at common smartphone tasks. Should the participant win they pocket £20 there and then, but should they lose then a daring activity awaits.

In London there was height frightening tightrope walking, but Scottish losers of the Dare to Live challenge in Glasgow get to take part in a bungee launch.

Have you dared to challenge Windows Phone? Check out more photos on the Windows Phone Facebook page.

Nokia has got hold of Priyanka Chopra, an established Indian actress, singer and former Miss World to host some videos for the "Blown Away by Lumia" Windows Phone challenge. Just like the Smoked by Windows Phone campaign, Chopra challenges participants at common tasks to see which smartphone is faster.

The Blown Away by Lumia challenges have come under fire since Nokia began uploading the video clips to sharing websites, with Samsung publicly announcing the company believes Nokia's aggressive campaign is "unethical", but we've also seen some humorous reactions, including a girlfriend of a losing participant.

Although the "Smoked by Windows Phone" campaign will always be controversial due to its selective nature, they're still fun to watch and occasionally surprise us. Malaysia is now getting in on the action and while this contest business is a bit "old" for us we have to understand that for a lot of folks, it's not.

In the above video, a different Ben from Microsoft takes on others in the challenge to beat Windows Phone during various predetermined tasks. Nothing new there but at 1:50 we do see a challenger with the brand new quad-core HTC One X, considered by many to the new top of the line Android phone (see AndroidCentral's review). The challenge was simple: take a photo of yourself, upload it to Facebook and tag it, but due to some fumbling around with the One X, the poor participant gets his beat fairly easily.

Of course it doesn't make the One X any less impressive as this contest is a bit fixed with tasks that favor Windows Phone. And perhaps with a different user the One X would have been a lot more effective at competing. But the purpose of the "Smoked" campaign is not to be fair but rather to demonstrate the efficiency of Windows Phone for common tasks that users are likely to use everyday. That focus on simplicity is important and while Windows Phone may not be the absolute winner, it does hold its own against Android and iOS.

By the end of the event, we can see Windows Phone had 98 challenges with 92 wins and 6 losses. Not too bad. And kudos to Microsoft for showing Windows Phone getting smoked by a beaten up, six year old Nokia 3250.

We recently put the question to you whether Microsoft is doing enough to promote and market Windows Phone, and now we've just caught wind of a new campaign kicking off from the software giant in the UK. The Windows Phone team will be touring the country (10 cities - 11 weeks) and challenging participants who believe their smartphone is faster than a Windows Phone.

Much like the Smoked by Windows Phone campaign, should contestants win the "Dare to Live" challenge, they'll pocket £20 there and then. But should they lose, and this is the exciting part, they'll not have to hold a sign up and announce their loss, oh no. Microsoft is taking things to the next level with actual fear driven activities instead.

Throughout each week the team will hold the challenges, but on every Saturday they will hold adrenaline intensive activities that will push yourself beyond comfortable limits. From tightrope walking to the Big Air, you're destined to get a buzz for losing to Windows Phone. Think of it as Smoked by Windows Phone with a twist for losing participants.

As well as the challenge and campaign, Microsoft is teaming up with O2 and Phones4U to provide a number of deals on Windows Phones throughout the duration of the event. Phones4U is currently featured with an up-to £100 cash back on the Lumia 800 when trading in your old phone. Be sure to check out the Dare to Live Facebook page for more details about locations, dates and -of course- the special offers.

Kicking off on April 21st, do you dare the live? The team is hitting London this week for the challenges. Should you be lucky (or unlucky) enough to lose you'll find yourself on a tightrope at the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush this coming Saturday. Be sure to pop along to see the action, WPCentral will be there to return with some photos of course.

The Smoked by Windows Phone marketing campaign has been extended by Microsoft until April 12th. Those with competitor smartphones will be able to pop into participating Microsoft Stores and attempt to challenge an employee to best the Windows Phone. The campaign recently came under fire for employees supposedly bending the competition rules, ensuring Microsoft's platform won regardless.

Those who manage to beat the Windows Phone will not be receiving a limited edition Hunger Games laptop, priced at $1,000. Instead the store will offer a $1,000 gift card ("hello fancy new Windows 8 tablet") to the first 10 winning participants and a $25 gift card to the first 250 who lose. Are you eligible? Check against the below points:

Your smartphone must be activated with a cellular carrier;

Your smartphone must be able to fully power off prior to the Challenge;

Your smartphone must have the basic functionality required to compete in the Challenge including, but not limited to: check weather/movie, take pictures and post online, text, post on Facebook, find nearby restaurants, update status on social media, and translate web pages into English; and

Your smartphone must use the original, unmodified operating system that came standard on Your smartphone.

Smartphones that have had Challenge scenarios pre-loaded are excluded.

What's different about this wave is employees will ask the participant to pick a challenge card at random, which will dictate the scenario (example: take a photo and upload to Facebook). This will help prevent any future issues that could possibly arise.